Scarpa North America Blog

Tag Archives: Shingo Ohkawa

To many new climbers, alpine and trad climbing are the dark arts of the vertical world. Everything about route finding and placing one’s own gear seems intimidating. Hell, even putting together your first rack can be tricky. But SCARPA athlete Shingo Ohkawa is here to help…with the gear part anyway. He specializes in new routing, especially if there’s unusual, creative, or as some might call, slightly odd terrain to sort out. Here’s his suggestion for dialing in your first trad setup.

Shingo Ohkawa and Oli take in the view after summiting Helen’s Tower 1 in the Wind River Range.

Last August, SCARPA athlete Shingo Ohkawa spent month in search of first descents on the classic vertical walls of Wyoming’s spectacular Wind River Range. While he and his partners horsepacked in to base camp, it was all human-powered effort from there. Long days on approach and even longer days in a harness and climbing shoes allowed Shingo to really abuse the best SCARPA has to offer for this style of climbing. While an unseasonably wet and cold August shut them out of many of his objectives, he still came back with some glowing reviews. These are the SCARPA shoes that got him too the wall and up it, including an FA on the West Face of Helen’s Tower 1. Continue reading...

A few weeks ago, I had the unique pleasure of attending the 2013 International Climbers’ Festival in Lander, Wyoming—home to the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and two of the West’s most celebrated sport crags, Wild Iris and Sinks Canyon. Despite the fact that I’ve done almost zero sport climbing—ever, the trip was, for this stubborn traddie, a terrific opportunity to see how the other half lives, and how to live off a steady diet of humble pie. Continue reading...

Break out of your winter hibernation and break in your new rock shoes at the 10th annual Red Rock Rendezvous this weekend, April 5-7. America’s greatest climbing festival is sponsored in part by SCARPA North America and will be a weekend-long celebration filled with climbing clinics, games, yoga and of course beer. Located only a few shameful minutes from the Vegas strip, Red Rocks provides an amazing venue with thousands of climbing routes, ranging from short sport routes to massive 20 pitch epics. The desert oasis makes for a nice change from the piles of snow in your front yard, and you can finally lounge if some shorts and soak up some sunshine. Continue reading...

Shingo Ohkawa quietly gets things done. A buyer for IME Sports in Salt Lake City, the SCARPA athlete keeps his wits about him in his adopted Wasatch Range, opening new climbing routes and clucking around steep couloirs when the rock gets covered. When the times are right he heads for the great ranges to explore the vertical wilderness that has become the muse in his life. He’s established routes all over the world, and yet he still gets pleasure playing in his own backyard. He balances his thirst for travel with a commitment to community in his own way. We caught him behind the counter one afternoon to see how his exploits were playing out. Continue reading...

Last week SCARPA was a proud sponsor of one of the most important Rocktoberfests in recent memory. This year marked the final payment for the PMRP, a very popular destination in the Red River Gorge. The final giant sized check was handed over and The 23 String Band played all night to dance away whatever energy was left from a long day of climbing on Saturday night. But before all this went down, there was an amazing dinner served, a crate stacking contest and an arm wrestling contest to boot! It was a busy evening for all involved.

Shingo Ohkawa is a SCARPA ambassador based in Salt Lake City, and – in his own words – he’s also “a part-time gear shop guy, a full-time climber-dirtbag, and I also backcountry ski a good bit in winter.” Shingo’s also an all-around great guy, and someone who’ll keep you entertained for hours if you happen to run into him at a crag. Originally from the East Coast, Shingo relocated to Salt Lake City several years ago to live nearer the mountains and pursue the climbing life. And, he does just that. When he’s not working behind the counter at International Mountain Equipment, Shingo logs many, many hours opening new routes on alpine granite, “the further away and the more involved to get to, the better.” That makes him a perfect person to weigh in on when and how to resole your climbing shoes. The following post is repurposed thanks to Shingo from his blog(http://yama-bushi.blogspot.com/).Continue reading...